It is known to provide a rotisserie cooker for restaurant operations having a vertical spit on which a food product is rotated as heat from a source adjacent the spit is directed thereon to cook the food. One such rotisserie cooker construction is shown in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 245,566 which discloses a rotisserie cooker having a hexagonal base with wall sections tapering inwardly and upwardly from four sides of the base to define, with a roof section, an open front cooking area above the base. Mounted centrally on the base and extending upwardly therefrom is a vertical, rotatable spit having a circular base plate which receives and supports a meat product to be cooked. Located on two wall sections of the cooker and extending upwardly alongside the spit are a pair of gas-fired burners which radiate heat forwardly to heat the meat as it is rotated on the vertical spit.
Rotisserie cookers of the type shown in the aforesaid design patent typically are employed in a fast food restaurant to cook a meat preparation used in specialty sandwiches known as Gyros sandwiches. The cooker generally is located on a food preparation counter of the restaurant adjacent an overhead exhaust which removes smoke and other cooking by-products from the area. In using the cooker, the meat to be cooked is rotated on the rotisserie spit in front of the heating units. When it is desired to prepare a serving from the meat on the spit, the food preparer uses a sharp knife to shave or carve thin portions of meat directly from the body of meat on the spit. To obtain thin, uniform slices of meat from the main body of the meat, the access to the cooking area of such cookers must be large and substantially wide to expose the sides of the meat on the spit and allow full manipulation of the cutting knife thereabout.
In use of rotisserie meat cookers of the type described in fast food restaurant operations, the cooker is operated relatively continously to keep the meat hot for serving food products at various times. Because of the large open front of the cooker, the food is exposed to the surrounding environment. In addition, a considerable amount of heat loss occurs during the cooking operation, not only decreasing the efficiency of the cooking operation but creating excess heat in the immediate vicinity of the cooker. Such excess heat is very uncomfortable for personnel in the working area of the cooker, particularly when the cooker is located in a food preparation area of limited size.